January 31, 2007
Education Week, Vol. 26, Issue 21
Education
A Washington Roundup
Spellings Addresses Conference in Israel
Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings traveled to Israel this month to take part in the seventh annual Herzliya Conference on the Balance of Israel’s National Security.
Education
A Washington Roundup
Education Dept. Sets Rule Requiring Electronic Data
Starting next month, states will be required to submit their performance reports and other reports to the Department of Education electronically.
Education
A Washington Roundup
New Chairman Named For Research Board
The National Board for Education Sciences, a federal panel created to advise the Department of Education’s research operations, chose researcher Craig T. Ramey as its new chairman last week.
School & District Management
Federal File
Statistical Errors?
The fallout over a pair of controversial studies released last year raged on when a national research advisory board met in Washington.
Education
Letter to the Editor
A Teaching ‘Marshall Plan’
Linda Darling-Hammond’s call for a “Marshall Plan” for teaching did a nice job of framing the need to get more effective teachers into the nation’s most troubled schools, but failed to address some of the fundamental challenges for realizing quality public education for all American children.
Education
Events
26-28—Technology:Midwest Education Technology Conference, sponsored by Cooperating School Districts, for administrators, teachers, and technology coordinators, at the Sheraton Westport Lakeside Chalet in St. Louis. Contact: Dorothy White, Cooperating School Districts, 1460 Craig Road, St. Louis, MO 63146; (314) 692-1250; fax: (314) 872-9128; e-mail: dwhite@csd.org; Web site: http://www2.csd.org/metc2007.htm.
February
26-28—Technology:Midwest Education Technology Conference, sponsored by Cooperating School Districts, for administrators, teachers, and technology coordinators, at the Sheraton Westport Lakeside Chalet in St. Louis. Contact: Dorothy White, Cooperating School Districts, 1460 Craig Road, St. Louis, MO 63146; (314) 692-1250; fax: (314) 872-9128; e-mail: dwhite@csd.org; Web site: http://www2.csd.org/metc2007.htm.
Early Childhood
Opinion
Chat Wrap-Up: Early-Childhood Education
Participants explored the connections between early-childhood education and K-12 learning.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Heed Benjamin Franklin on Curriculum’s Scope
In response to your article "Schools Urged to Push Beyond Math, Reading to Broader Curriculum," the words of Benjamin Franklin on the education of young people may be instructive.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Studies With ‘Qualifiers,’ Confusion on Goals
There are two important aspects of your Jan. 10, 2007, article "Study Links Merit Pay to Slightly Higher Student Scores" that deserve more scrutiny.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Spend Now on Students, or Later on Prisoners?
Juliet Luther's Jan. 10, 2007, letter to the editor about poverty’s effects on student achievement makes a powerful point about schooling under the influence of misplaced government priorities.
Education
Letter to the Editor
‘Tough Choices’ Debate: Opposing Views of Essay
In "‘Tough Choices’: Change the System, or Suffer the Consequences," Marc S. Tucker claims that the 1990 report “America’s Choice: High Skills or Low Wages,” by the predecessor of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, helped “jump-start” the movement for standards-based reform. Huh?
Education
Letter to the Editor
Court Case Tests Teacher Rights, Union Priorities
The issue at stake between teachers in the state of Washington and the Washington Education Association cannot be boiled down to a question of whose First Amendment rights are more important.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Bilingual Ed. Support: Aid to New Jersey’s Success?
Kudos to New Jersey for supporting decades of sound sociolinguistic research, and for writing bilingual education into its Reading First implementation.
School & District Management
Opinion
Benchmarking: What It Is, How It Works, and Why Educators Desperately Need It
C. Jackson Grayson Jr., the chairman and CEO of the American Productivity & Quality Center, champions the benchmarking of best practices as the best way to speed up improvement in the K-12 education system.
School & District Management
States Wrestle With Departure of Top School Officials
State boards search for new schools chiefs after a spate of retirements, job changes, and resignations.
Federal
School Accountability Systems Seen as Unlikely to Face Major Overhaul
Policy experts and scholars cite negative consequences of NCLB's reliance on state tests.
College & Workforce Readiness
Tennessee Scholarship Seen Tough to Keep
Study finds a majority of award recipients fail to make the grade.
Special Education
IDEA Imposes Hefty Data Burden on States
The deadline is this week for reports on 20 indicators about special education.
Federal
More Minority Teachers Earn National Certification
The advanced credential may have started to better penetrate schools serving poor, minority children.
Education
People in the News
Maurice L. Ambler
Maurice L. Ambler has become the chief human-resources officer for the 127,00-student Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district in North Carolina.
Education
People in the News
Rita A. Oleksak
Rita A. Oleksak has become the president of the Alexandria, Va.-based American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.
Education
People in the News
Vincent L. Ferrandino
Vincent L. Ferrandino plans to step down March 31 as the executive director of the National Association of Elementary School Principals, based in Alexandria, Va.